What We Think: Hilliard's life reflects ministry of giving

The Paul and Lulu Hilliard Art Museum is a familiar fixture on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. But most people in Lafayette know little about the man whose name it bears. Nor do they know that Hilliard and his late wife, Lulu, pledged $5 million for the seed money to build the museum, in addition to other charitable works.

And that's the way he wants it, say those who know him best.

But Hilliard was unable to escape the limelight this week when the Upper Lafayette Economic Development Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting the northern part of the parish, honored him as Philanthropist of the Year.

To receive such a title in a city with a reputation for its generosity is an admirable accomplishment.

We join with Upper Lafayette members in saluting this generosity of spirit that drives Hilliard, who believes it is his responsibility to "pay it forward" quietly and without fanfare, according to his longtime friend, Don Briggs. Hilliard considers it part of his "ministry of philanthropy," Briggs said.

And to do good without expectation of reward or adulation is the mark of a true humanitarian.

Briggs, now the president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, a position Hilliard once held, and a citizen member of The Daily Advertiser's Editorial Board, first met Hilliard when he was a client of one of Briggs' business ventures. Hilliard quickly became his mentor.

Briggs speaks fondly of what he terms "Paul-isms." One of Hilliard's oft-repeated phrases is "Of whom much is given, much is expected."

The saying in its various forms has been attributed to Bill Gates and John F. Kennedy and can be traced ultimately to the Book of Luke in the Bible.

Another of his Paul-isms is "You're never too old to do dumb things."

Some of his best attributes, say those who know Hilliard, are his sense of humor and his humility.

Both are evident even to those who don't know him in the bio he presented to Upper Lafayette.

In it, along with his service during World War II as a U.S. Marine radioman-gunner on SBD Dauntless dive bomber missions, Hilliard refers to his education in a one-room, two outhouse school in his native Wisconsin and his family's introduction in the 1930s to the "luxuries of electricity and indoor plumbing." He also makes reference on his résumé to being fired in 1955 and to "numerous money-losing real estate ventures."

He eventually went on from the one-room schoolhouse to the University of Texas, where he earned a law degree, but later took a right turn into the oil business, eventually becoming the owner of Badger Oil in 1955. He was later a founding member of Midsouth Bank.

He has held top positions in numerous business organizations, and won various awards, including the Horatio Alger Award, which speaks of his humble beginnings.

He and his late wife also founded the Badger Excellence in Education Foundation to provide reading programs in at-risk elementary schools.

In recent years, Hilliard has re-married, joining forces with Madlyn Boustany, who is well-known in her own right for her work for the community - and incidentally, for being the mother of U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany.

Hilliard is the third recipient of the Humanitarian of the Year Award. He joins Bo Ramsey, a co-founder of Upper Lafayette, who has concentrated his efforts on the Bridge Ministry and Marcelle Citron, who year after year has made FoodNet, Lafayette's food bank, her priority.

That puts him in good company.

Hilliard has been honored for the more public expressions of his philanthropy. And those are commendable.

The world may never know, if his friends are any judge, how many other acts of kindness Hilliard has performed in his "ministry of philanthropy."

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What We Think: Hilliard's life reflects ministry of giving

The Paul and Lulu Hilliard Art Museum is a familiar fixture on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. But most people in Lafayette know little about the man whose name it bears. Nor